Scammers stole more than $1.73 million worth of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in July 2023, according to a fresh report from blockchain security firm PeckShield. This marks a 31% decrease month-on-month (MoM) and an 89% drop from February, when $16.2 million worth of NFTs were stolen.
50% of Stolen NFT Sold Within 165 Mins
According to PeckShield, half of the stolen NFTs were quickly sold on various marketplaces within 165 minutes. 67.3% of these transactions were completed through Blur, 19.63% through OpenSea, and around 13.07% through X2Y2. So far, in 2023, 41.68 million worth of NFTs have been stolen by scammers.
The decline in NFT thefts for July can be attributed to the significant drop in NFT trading volume and sales in July. According to a recent report by blockchain analytics platform DappRadar, there has been a continued downtrend in trading volume for the month.
DappRadar revealed that, during the first week of July, NFT trading volume stood at approximately $182 million, and by the fourth week, it significantly dropped sharply to $57.5 million, marking a 68% decrease within just three weeks. According to the report, July saw roughly $632 million in total trading volume, representing a 29% decrease from the previous month.
NFT Trading Volume Dropped in July
At the same time, the number of sales also experienced a major decline from 4.2 million in June to 3.7 million in July. This represents a 23% decline in MoM. The DappRadar report also revealed that 6 out of the 10 top collections witnessed a decrease in terms of trading volume, with sellers contributing more to the volume than buyers.
Meanwhile, in response to the concerning thefts in the NFT market, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently warned of scammers posing as legitimate NFT developers to steal digital collectibles from crypto users.
According to the agency, these scammers gain unauthorized access to NFT developer social media channels or create identical ones to promote new NFT drops. These promotions include a phishing link that directs victims to “spoofed websites,” where their NFT assets would be stolen upon connecting their cryptocurrency wallets.
